


The Last Call

by Redvines1595



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 00Q - Freeform, Angst, Character Death, M/M, Q is unaware, Sorry Not Sorry, it all hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 19:55:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8258527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Redvines1595/pseuds/Redvines1595
Summary: James calls Q one last time to say good-bye.





	

“James? Is everything alright?”  
“Of course, love,” the agent scoffed, his voice strained. “Why wouldn’t I be?”  
“Well, you never call while you’re on a mission,” Q replied.  
“I just miss you.” James let out a shaky breath as he lifted his hand from his side to look at the bloody mess beneath it. He had known it was over from the moment the bullet ripped through his body. This wasn’t something he’d be able to come back from. “How was work?”  
James smiled a bit when he heard Q sigh on the other end of the line. He could practically see the young Quartermaster removing his glasses before rubbing the exhaustion from his eyes. “I swear, if this mission doesn’t kill Alec, I will.”  
“That bad?”  
“I had to shut down half the cameras in Rome just to make sure the local police didn’t get involved. Do you have any idea how difficult that is to do from London? I mean, it’s not like I have the entire Italian CCTV system and the location of their cameras memorized or anything.”  
“You don’t?” James tutted. “I thought you were better than that, Quartermaster.”  
“Oh, shut it, you.” James smiled a bit when he heard the fondness in Q’s voice. “That’s not even the half of it. You know that prototype I’ve been working on?”  
“The car?”  
“He took it! Blew it up! All that work blown to pieces! Once M’s had his turn, I’m going to have a go at him. I swear, Alec’s ten times worse than you ever were.”  
James chuckled a bit despite the pain, before it turned to a chest-wracking cough. He turned his head away from the phone, spitting out blood. “Well, it’s good to hear I’m not the only one causing problems for you two.”  
There was a pause on the other end and James could practically feel Q’s frown. “Are you sure you’re alright?”  
“Yeah,” James assured him. “Yeah, just swallowed wrong. I’m fine. Promise… Did anything else interesting happen today?”  
“Um… Not really.” Q still sounded worried and it made Bond’s heart ache. “My mum called. It’s my dad’s birthday tomorrow and she wants us to come over for dinner.”  
“Tell her we’ll be there. You don’t see them as much as you should.”  
“What about you? Will you be home in time?”  
“Hopefully. But you should still go if I’m not, alrigh-” His sentence was cut off by another coughing fit. The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth once more.  
“James?” Q said frantically on the other end. “James, what’s happened? Are you okay?”  
He cleared his throat and spoke again, his voice gravelly. “Q… Q, I love you, okay? I love you so much”  
“James, what’s going on?”  
James bit his lip as he felt the sting of tears in his eyes. As a double-oh, Bond was used to pain and had built up a sort of tolerance to it. But this… He never could have anticipated the pain that came with saying goodbye to the man he loved. James sucked in a shaky breath and cleared his throat. “I love you. Q, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I was a mess when I first met you, but you helped me get my life back together. You’ve made my life amazing and I’m so incredibly grateful. I just… I need you to know that.”  
There was only silence on Q’s line for a long moment, followed by a soft sniffle. “James… Love, you’re scaring me.”  
“Everything’s fine,” James assured him, his own voice breaking. “I just miss you, is all.” James felt himself growing weaker by the second, his energy draining away as his body began to shut down. “I can’t wait to get home.”  
“I miss you, too,” Q responded finally, completely unaware of just how dire the situation really was.  
“I… I need to go,” James said softly. He didn’t want to stop talking to Q or hearing his voice, but he couldn’t let Q listen to him die. He couldn’t put him through that. “I’ll see you soon, okay?”  
“Okay,” Q replied. “Dinner with my parents tomorrow. Don’t forget.”  
“How could I?” James smiled a bit. “I love you.”  
“I love you, too.” There was a second’s pause before the line went dead.  
James let his hand fall to the ground, staring down at the picture of Q that remained on the screen. He smiled a bit as a tear rolled down his face. He couldn’t imagine what Q would do when he found out. He didn’t want to imagine it. He just wanted Q to know that he loved him more than anything else in the world.  
When the picture on the screen faded, James found it hard to keep his eyes open and even harder to breathe.  
When the screen went black, James dropped the phone, his innate reaction forcing him to try and cover the wound again. He knew it was hopeless, but even as blood seeped from between his fingers he felt a little better about it all. He was trying to make it back to Q still, technically. It would never work, and he would die in this godforsaken place, far from anything he could call home. He felt tears escaping his eyes when they closed, unable to hold them open any longer as his strength seeped from the huge wound in his stomach. Slowly, his breathing became more shallow as his lung filled with blood and collapsed. It was surreal. He felt himself dying, but the pain was draining from him, leaving him with a strange sense of numbness.  
He relaxed, his body slumping against the wall he was leaning against, exhaling slowly. Then everything was still.


End file.
